Jitter occurs due to digital timing errors. Learn more: Introduction to DACs: Headphones Enthusiast’s Guide What problems are a quality DAC trying to solve?Īn external DAC bypasses the internal DAC and can fix many problems associated with inferior devices. For the average listener, the quality of an internal DAC is already acceptable.įor audiophiles, however, the DAC circuits used in many devices just don’t do the original recording justice, and they desire an upgraded, “cleaner” listening experience.Hence, they upgrade to an external DAC to bypass the inferior built-in audio circuitry.

Whether you should invest in an external DAC depends firstly on the specifics of your existing gears. The aim of any sound system is to preserve and recreate, as much as possible, the true sound of the studio recording to your ear. Simply put, the quality of the music you hear is determined by the precision of your DAC converter.

Without them, your music would remain a series of 0s and 1s never to be heard by the human ear.īut if that is the case, why do you need an external headphone DAC for? They can exist in either in the form of the speaker output or headphone audio port. You may be surprised to find that many electronic devices already include a built-in DAC and amp.

Is external DAC the silver bullet for high-resolution audio playback?.

What problems are a quality DAC trying to solve?.

Audioengine d1 dac sound grainy